Ezekiel 2:7-8 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
Success is Obedience
Imagine that for an entire day no one listens to anything you say. Your server at the restaurant ignores you, your coworkers don’t understand anything you say, and your taxi driver has no comprehension of where you want to go. If you have ever been in a foreign country, you may know this feeling. You can speak, but you can’t be heard because people can’t comprehend what you are saying.
That might be understandable in a foreign country, but imagine you have that same response from people who are your own kindred in your own nation. That is exactly where Ezekiel was. As God’s prophet, he had a message from God, yet God said to him, “If you were sent to people of a strange speech and hard language, they would probably listen to you, but I’m sending you to My people, your own people. They are not going to listen.”
We can learn something from Ezekiel and his hard message. Success is defined primarily by how I listen to God and not by how others listen to me. Ezekiel 2:7-8 says, “And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.” God says, “Whether the people listen to your message or not, you listen to Me.”
When I define my success primarily by my obedience to God, a couple of things happen. First, I am free to be in the minority. What a wonderful peace there is to know that I may not be in the majority, but if I have the truth and I love people, then I can be hard-headed with the truth as well. That is exactly what Ezekiel. He had a soft heart with a hard head because he had God’s truth.
When I define success primarily by my obedience and not by my abilities, I am free from having to invent answers. I don’t have the answers for everyone, and I don’t have to make any up. I just have to give people what God gives me. That is exactly what Ezekiel was tasked with.
Finally, when I define my success by my obedience and not by my abilities, I am free to have peace independently of the actions of others. I am never to be indifferent to what other people do. Ezekiel cared and God cares. But Ezekiel was a success not because others listened to him, but because he listened to God.